Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Amazon’s Deal of the Week – The Sound of Music Limited Edition Box Set for $38.99 (57% off)!

At last the hills are alive with the Sound of Music on Blu-ray! Thisis
is one of my all time favorite musicals (a genre that doesn’t have
that many movies that interest me) and one of the movies that never
fails to cheer me up. After all, it was brilliantly directed by Robert
Wise and has a stellar cast, great songs and choreography, and
breathtaking panoramic visuals that just beg for the Blu-ray
treatment. This movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won Best
Picture, Best Director (Robert Wise), Best Musical Score, Best
Editing, and Best Sound. Julie Andrews was absolutely fantastic in
this and this became one of her signature roles (the other being Mary Poppins). If you’d like to read my review of the stand-alone Blu-ray release for this movie, you can do that here,
but this is the ultimate box set that has even more goodies than the
one I reviewed! This deal lasts this week only so make sure you get your
copy while you can!

What you can find in the set:

20th Century Fox outdid themselves with this release which is fitting since The Sound of Music is the movie that saved the studio from the financial ruin caused by Cleopatra.
There are so many extras it took me the good part of a day to watch
all of them but each one of them was interesting and enjoyable. Every
one of them is in HD except for the vintage ones which is understandable
and expected. I will also mention that although it appears that you
must click on a ton of items to start each featurette, at the bottom
right of the screen there is an index icon that will allow to select
play all which will save you a lot of time.

Limited Edition Extras:

45th Anniversary soundtrack

100-Page “My Favorite Things” scrapbook

Snapshots from Salzburg

Reproduction of the original 1965 Souvenir program

Exclusive “My Favorite Things” Music Box with letter of authenticity

Blu-ray Disc 1:

Your Favorite Things: An Interactive Celebration — All-New Immersive Viewing Experience with Behind-the-Scenes Images, On-Screen Lyrics, Trivia Track and Location Quiz - This
is very cool addition to the set. It allows you to select as many of
these options are you are interested in to be viewed in a picture in
picture mode. I can see this adding a lot of re-playability since most
people won’t want all of the options turned on at the same time due to
picture space.

Music Machine Sing-Along – Allows you to sync up whatever playlist of songs you want to hear.

Audio Commentaries – Julie
Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charmian Carr, Choreographer Dee Dee
Wood, and Johannes von Trapp (the youngest son of Maria and Georg) share
one commentary and Director Robert Wise has a solo one.It’s
very cool that they managed to record so many people involved in the
movie but unfortunately they weren’t all recorded together. I’m just
glad they were able to include Robert Wise’s commentary before his
untimely passing.

BD-LIVE**: Live Lookup™ Powered by IMDb® – Basically a link to the movie’s IMDb page if you are connected to the internet.

Blu-ray Disc 2:

Musical Stages - An
“interactive backlot tour,” Musical Stages offers you the chance to
select items within the Von Trapp home which will allow you to watch one
of the following featurettes below. Every song gets an overview of
it’s background and details about how it worked within the film. For
instance, I discovered that although Christopher Plummer was recorded
singing the songs (and doing it well in my opinion), he was dubbed by
Bill Carter. The Mother Superior played by Peggy Wood was also dubbed
but that was at the actress’s request as she felt unable to pull off
Climb Ev’ry Mountain.

Maria in the 21st Century

Restoring a Classic: Bloom and Grow Forever

Edelweiss

I Have Confidence

My Favorite Things

Sixteen Going on Seventeen

After the Escape

R&H: Partnership at its Peak

Shaping the Story

The Von Trapps Today

Climb Ev’ry Mountain

Stage Vs. Screen

Maria

The Sound of Music

Maria and the Musical

Cutting Room Floor

Something Good

The Lonely Goatherd

Do-Re-Mi

So Long, Farewell

A Generous Heart

Final Dream: Oscar Hammerstein Remembered

Stories from Broadway

Restoring a Classic: A Glorious Sound

A City of Song – Much like the interactive selection process of the Van Trapp home, except here you select locations based on a map of Salzburg.

Mellweg: Maria’s Mountain

Nonnberg: Maria’s Abbey

Residenzplatz: Scenes of Joy and Sorrow

Siegmundplatz: The Horse Pond

von Trapp Villa: A Place of Harmony

Frohnburg: A Facade Fit for Hollywood

Gazebo: A New Home at Hellbrunn

Mozartsteg – A Bridge to the Past

Werfen: Planning a Picnic

Winkler Terrace: The Ultimate View

Mirabell Gardens: Do-Re-Mi-rabell

Leopoldskron: Story of a Lake

Salzburg Marionette Theatre: Pulling Strings

Mondsee Cathedral: A Marriage of Fact and Fiction

Rock Riding School: Staging a Festival

St. Peter’s Cemetery: Safe Haven

Rossfeld: A Dangerous Escape

The Sound of Music Tour: A Living Story

Vintage Programs – The
studio was nice enough to include special features from past releases,
including some period and behind the scenes featurettes. There are
also some audio only interviews but I will take anything I can get!